Display the Tech

Law school technology courses are becoming ubiquitous. There are several sessions at AALL, CALI, TechShow and most regional law library association conferences. There are websites for sharing materials and discussions threads about best methods. All this is part of the push to graduate more tech competent lawyers. The best part of this movement is that many law schools are riding this momentum to add fun technologies to their arsenals and develop interesting subject courses. For the lucky tinkerer at the right school, it can be a dream playground in which to exercise your creativity. I am thankfully one such person.

At the law school, we are exploring different ways to use virtual reality, have subscriptions to various legal practice tools, and are creating great courses that bring law students together with students of other disciplines to explore tech more robustly. We have partnerships with legal tech companies, technology clinics, and incubators. There are myriad opportunities for students who are interested.

Classes and clinics are easy enough to get on a student’s radar. But showing students the full breadth of tools and software at their disposal is more difficult. “I wish I had known about that earlier,” is not an uncommon statement at the ref desk. How then to expose students to the options in a way that motivates them to use the tech available to lock it in their memory for later?

I am brainstorming an escape room scenario that requires students to use tech in different ways in order to solve puzzles and get out of the room within the time constraints. Stay tuned. I’ll post more as I develop the idea. If you are a tech company that wants to brainstorm ways to add your tech into the game, reach out. I’d love to chat.